Almost end of month Turkey Part 1

 Through the lovely giving of a friend we have all the makings for a turkey feast. Other than dessert but that's all on us. We have only cooked a turkey once in our current apartment so this is a familiar but unique challenge. Size matters. How it started:

We were gifted a 13 lb turkey,  veggies and a few other things. That is the largest turkey we can fit in our small oven. That doesn't mean the largest one we've gotten, I mean we can't fit anything larger.

My preferred tray has hard wire handles and support on the bottom. It worked in previous years just fine. But not with this oven. The handles were an inch too wide for my tiny 30" apartment oven ('ll get to what i used on and in the turkey). You've seen this kind of pan, roughly 12 x 17. It's the 12 inches including the handles that is the problem. 

Same dimensions but a rectangle and it *just fit* inside the oven. So for future reference 11 x 16 is preferred size.

Now for the coating and other details. I only have stove top dressing so am not putting it inside the turkey for ease of cooking. I did quarter a small yellow onion, thought I had quartered a lemon but it was a small orange but stuffed that in there anyway along with some garlic slices and a good few tablespoons of unsalted butter. I should have salted the whole thing first but forgot.  

Butter coating:

1 cube (1/2 lb) unsalted butter softened

2 or 3 tbl Italian seasoning

2 tsp sage

Salt and Pepper

 

Mix that all together and set aside. Prep the thawed turkey and put it in the roasting pan first before coating. Don't used your hands, use a rubber spatula, fork or spoon. The turkey will chill the butter again and make it difficult to move around. I have seen olive oil used instead and that's an option. I prepped all the veggies the night before which is a HUGE time and space saver. This is not a high quality turkey but it was a gift and we will eat it for sure. 

We were also given a bundle of baby/very thin asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes, carrots, some chicken broth, and two each, zucchini and yellow squash. That will go into a very tasty casserole later.

I diced up the veggies the night before so I had the carrots, celery and onion all ready to toss in a pot to saute before mixing in with the stuffing. Asparagus has been snapped and set in water then in a zip bag in the fridge so that is ready to go to steam in the microwave then lemon, garlic, salt and pepper will be added.  The neck and 'giblets' have been simmered in a pot with some chicken broth and the dregs from the veggies for the stuffing. That will be saved out for stock later and hope to make some soup down the road. The gravy is going to be from a package but am tempted to do a scratch gravy as well. Yeah, so much broth and juices to use for that it should be great.

So that's Part 1 of the Turkey Dinner, Part 2 will be after disassembling and serving. There is enough turkey for two, maybe 4 people for sure. 🦃🦃